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Gary Nova has retained the starting quarterback job for the Rutgers football team and will make his 21st consecutive start Saturday against Temple, coach Kyle Flood announced Thursday through the school’s sports information department.

Nova and backup Chas Dodd, who replaced the struggling starter in the third quarter against Houston after he threw his third interception, split reps with the first-team offense in practice all week. Dodd could still be in line to play.

“I wouldn’t put that out of the realm of possibility just yet,” Flood said prior to announcing his starter.

Nova has completed 56.5 percent of his passes for 1,511 yards and 14 touchdowns with 11 interceptions — including seven in the past two games — this season.

Dodd, who hasn’t started since the 2011 Pinstripe Bowl, has appeared in three games and is 15-of-25 passing for 123 yards with an interception.

“I really can’t say enough positives about how Marcus goes about his business every day in terms of how he prepares and how he practices,” Flood said, “and certainly you see the results on gameday.”

Flood said Wednesday that he is entertaining the idea of making Thompson a captain for the rest of the season. Nova supported the idea.

“He’s a great leader and doesn’t miss practices due to injuries,” Nova said. “He’s always out there. He’s always enthusiastic. He’s always making that play that sparks the defense. He is a guy everybody loves on the team and I think it would be a great honor if he was named a full-time captain.”

Thompson leads Rutgers with 4 1/2 sacks and is tied for third on the team with 33 tackles. He has started all seven games.

“He’s probably one of the loudest guys on the team just as far as always taking and making jokes and things like that,” Nova said. “Everybody loves him. Everybody respects how hard he works.”

Rutgers is finished practicing for the week but Kyle Flood hasn’t yet wrapped up his decision as to who will start Saturday’s game at quarterback.

Flood expects to announce the decision – Gary Nova and Chas Dodd both took reps with the first-team offense throughout the week – sometime Thursday night after re-watching film of this week’s practices.

“I thought both quarterbacks got better today and certainly neither was perfect,” Flood said. “Nor did I expect them to be.”

It remains a possibility that both Nova and Dodd could play meaningful reps – a situation that Flood has avoided through his first 20 games as head coach with the exception of earlier this season when Nova suffered a concussion against Eastern Michigan.

If that is the case, Flood said his personal preference with a rotational system is to play the starter for the first two offensive series and the backup on the third and go from there – similar to the way he has handled rotating co-starters at halfback.

“I don’t know if it ever can exclude history, recent history more so than anything else,” Flood said when asked to offer insight into the factors in making the decision. “We’ll look at how we did during the week and how we progressed, and when mistakes were made were they corrected and were they processed, and were better decisions made the next time. I think those are the things you look to have in a practice week and those are the things you look to have in a game as well.”

Flood said earlier in the week that better passing accuracy and decision-making were two things he wanted to see from his starter. Did he see it?

“I saw improvement. And I see areas where he can still improve,” Flood said. “But that doesn’t surprise me. As long as we’re making improvement that’s really all we can ask of the players.”

Strong safety Lorenzo Waters, who has made 20 consecutive starts, is considered doubtful for Saturday’s game against Temple, another potential loss for a vulnerable secondary. (Mark Sullivan/MyCentralJersey.com)

The latest potential shot to the Rutgers secondary isn’t the loss of another cornerback but the possibility that the young fill-in cornerbacks won’t have a veteran voice behind them to rely upon.

Strong safety Lorenzo Waters (ankle) was downgraded Thursday from probable to doubtful for Saturday’s game against Temple, as announced by coach Kyle Flood. The rest of Rutgers’ official injury report is due out later tonight.

“(He) didn’t make the progress I thought we would see earlier this week,” said Flood, who stressed the Waters has not been ruled out.

The redshirt junior is a two-year starter and a proven run stopper, but his biggest value currently is as a play-caller. Rutgers lists true freshman Anthony Cioffi and redshit junior Gareef Glashen – both of whom have one career start – as its starting cornerbacks for Saturday, with Delon Stephenson, Jevon Tyree and recent receiver convert Ruhann Peele as backups. None of the three have ever played extensively.

If Waters cannot go, Rutgers likely will use a three-player rotation at the two safeties with Jonathan Aiken, Jeremy Deering and Tejay Johnson. Next up could be either Stephenson – who spent most of the season practicing at safety before moving to cornerback to bolster depth – or Sheldon Royster.

“I think it creates a tremendous opportunity for everybody else in that secondary to step up,” Flood said. “That is the only way that we will think about it. Lorenzo is a tremendous football player and we don’t want to see anybody get injured but injuries happen in football and Lorenzo will be back soon enough. Possibly this week. We’ll find out more as we go through the rest of the week. But if he can’t play then it’s the next guy’s turn to get in there and he gets a great opportunity to show us what he can do.”

But Flood also is considering starting Stephenson at cornerback ahead of Cioffi. Rutgers’ top three cornerbacks from two games ago — Lew Toler (broken arm), Ian Thomas (left the program) and Nadir Barnwell (suspension) — are not available.

“I think Delon is a playmaker,” Flood said. “He was that way in high school (at Sayreville). He hasn’t had his opportunity yet to do that but Delon gets a little bit better every day. And I thought Ruhann got a little bit better every day this week.

“No pads on Thursday but all the situations are installed now. I thought both quarterbacks got better today and certainly neither was perfect. Nor did I expect them to be. We’ll go back and review the tape and we’ll get word to you guys in a couple hours in terms of how we will start the game and what we think we’ll do here early on. One update on the injury front before the report comes out later this afternoon, Lorenzo (Waters), I had him as probable earlier in the week, probably doubtful right now. Not out. But didn’t make the progress I thought we would see earlier this week.”

WHAT FACTORS GO INTO JUDGEMENT BASED ON GIVING US A QUARTERBACK UPDATE LATER TODAY?

“I don’t know if it ever can exclude history, recent history more so than anything else. We’ll look at how we did during the week and how we progressed and when mistakes were made were they corrected and were they processed and were better decisions made the next time. I think those are the things you look to have in a practice week and those are the things you look to have in a game as well.”

YOU HAD SAID SUNDAY THAT BETTER PASSING ACCURACY AND DECISION-MAKING WERE TWO THINGS YOU’D BE LOOKING FOR. DID YOU SEE THAT?

“I saw improvement. And I see areas where he can still improve. But that doesn’t surprise me. As long as we’re making improvement that’s really all we can ask of the players.”

IS THE DECISION STILL POSSIBLE IT WILL BE BOTH AS YOU HINTED YESTERDAY?

“It is. I wouldn’t put that out of the realm of possibility just yet.”

WITH SAFETY, PENDING LORENZO, WHAT OPTIONS DO YOU HAVE LAST WEEK?

“I think we have the options we played the last game with. We’ve got Tejay Johnson back there. Jonathan Aiken is back there as well with Jeremy Deering. That gives us the first three safeties. From there, we’d probably have to look at Delon Stephenson, although he has been working at corner he has spent a lot of time working at safety this year.”

HOW ABOUT SHELDON ROYSTER? IS HE IN THE MIX?

“He would be in the mix, sure.”

HOW DOES IT CHANGE THINGS IN TERMS OF LOSING THE LEADER OF YOUR SECONDARY, ESPESCIALLY WITH ALL THE NEW CORNERS?

“I think it creates a tremendous opportunity for everybody else in that secondary to step up. That is the only way that we will think about it. Lorenzo is a tremendous football player and we don’t want to see anybody get injured but injuries happen in football and Lorenzo will be back soon enough. Possibly this week. We’ll find out more as we go through the rest of the week. But if he can’t play then it’s the next guy’s turn to get in there and he gets a great opportunity to show us what he can do.”

RUHANN PEELE DEVELOPED A NICE NICHE IN THE SLOT. CAN JUST ABOUT ANY OF YOUR OTHER RECEIVERS GO IN THERE OR IS THAT A MORE NICHE POSITION FOR SOMEONE SPECIFIC?

“I think the slot role for him was a good role for him on offense but it’s a place where Quron Pratt has spent a lot of time in his career. It’s the place where Janarion Grant has spent his time playing there. We’ll certainly see those two players this week in that role.”

IF YOU DO PLAY BOTH QUARTERBACKS, WOULD ONE PLAY THE FIRST SERIES AND THE OTHER PLAY THE SECOND?

“I generally don’t like the first drive, second drive deal. I like to give a guy two drives and then give somebody else the third drive when I’m going to do some type of rotation. That’s probably just more my own comfort level than anything.”

YOU MENTIONED ON YOUR RADIO SHOW YESTERDAY POSSIBLY STARTING DELON STEPHENSON OVER ANTHONY CIOFFI AT ONE CORNERBACK. WHAT’S HE SHOWING YOU?

“I think Delon is a playmaker. He was that way in high school. He hasn’t had his opportunity yet to do that but Delon gets a little bit better every day. And I thought Ruhann got a little bit better every day this week. I appreciate you listening to the radio show and maybe some time we’ll get you down there at Brother Jimmy’s.”

DO YOU KNOW WHY IN A GAME WHERE YOU THREW 31 PASSES THAT LEONTE CARROO AND BRANDON COLEMAN COMBINED FOR JUST ONE CATCH? IF YOUR OFFENSE IS GOING TO BE EFFECTIVE, CAN THAT BE THE CASE GOING FORWARD?

“I think last week was a little bit unique in that Leonte didn’t take as many reps as he normally would in a practice week. We played more players at the receiver position than we had all year. Any time you do that there is going to be less opportunity just by virtue of where the ball goes, to the X, to the Z to the F. I think your question is a good one because Leonte Carroo and Barndon Coleman are two of the better weapons we have on the offense and I think for us to score the amount of points that want to score in a game we’re going to need to give them opportunities to do that.”

THEY KEEP INSISTING THAT THEY ARE HEALTHY EVEN THOUGH YOU SAY THEY DIDN’T GET AS MANY REPS?

“From the player perspective, they’re always going to say that. I don’t know if anybody in the country is 100 percent healthy right now. For them, as players and athletes, I’m glad they’re saying that. I want them to say that. It’s really for us as coaches to figure out what is the best role that everybody can have to help us win the game.”

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